Spears in call for money from fans

AS DIVISIONS within the Spears rugby franchise deepen, beleaguered chief executive Tony McKeever yesterday confirmed he had been suspended but was pushing ahead with a campaign to garner financial support for legal action against SA Rugby.
“I do not recognise the suspension. In terms of the Companies Act it is unlawful,” he said.
McKeever said he would launch a “Save Our Spears” campaign, in which members of the public would be asked to make financial donations towards the legal costs the Spears would incur when taking SA Rugby to court to contest being kicked out of the 2007 Vodacom Super 14 competition.
“I have dedicated a year of my life, 18 hours a day, seven days a week to make sure the Spears are a success. Why would I stop now?”
McKeever also raised concerns about the Spears’ participation in the Currie Cup competition, saying SA Rugby was trying to sideline the Spears to make way for the Griquas, thus avoiding a major legal battle.
Griqualand West Rugby Union (GWRU) has threatened to take legal action against SA Rugby to have the current Currie Cup format, which will see an eight-team Premier Division format including the Southern Spears, overturned.
It was decided that the big five - Blue Bulls, Lions, Cheetahs, Sharks and Western Province - along with the Southern Spears, be entrenched in the Premier Division. The remaining nine provinces - Pumas, Falcons, Boland Cavaliers, Griquas, Griffons, Mighty Elephants, Leopards, Border Bulldogs and Eagles - have to qualify for the remaining two places through their participation in the Vodacom Cup.
Southern Spears chairman Aldy Meyer confirmed that McKeever had been suspended with full pay on May 6 - a day after a high-powered delegation from SA Rugby met the Spears board.
“But the visit by the SA Rugby delegation had nothing to do with his suspension,” he said.
Meyer said he was not prepared to discuss the reasons for McKeever’s suspension until the “relevant processes” had been put in place.
McKeever scoffed at the notion of being suspended with full pay, saying: “My salary is effectively paid by SA Rugby, and SA Rugby has not paid any of the Spears’ administration staff their April salaries, which is tantamount to economic victimisation.”
McKeever said he had been suspended for unauthorised communication with SA Rugby and the media, not forwarding financial statements to the board and arranging games between Kenya and Namibia which had not been sanctioned by the national body.
“The reasons given cannot be supported. I sent out correspondence to all our board members on a daily basis, including issuing financial statements. I cannot be held accountable because other people do not open their e-mails.”
EP Rugby Union representative on the Spears board Freddy Makoki said he did not believe McKeever’s suspension was warranted.
“He has taken the Spears from nowhere to where they are today - he has done a good job and must come back,” he said.
When asked about McKeever’s suspension, SA Rugby deputy president Mike Stofile said he was “not surprised”.
“The meetings we have had with the board have made it clear that they were not on top of business, that only one person seemed to know what was going on, and that if things continued in such a fashion they would be in trouble,” he said.
Stofile said he was still “100% behind” the concept of having a franchise in the province, and that he was “rolling up his sleeves” to ensure that there would be a “formidable rugby force” in the Eastern and Southern Cape in two to three years’ time.
“It is not the franchise itself that we oppose. The decision to establish a franchise in the Southern and Eastern Cape still stands, but the circumstances in which the franchise finds itself are just not acceptable to us. It is just too deurmekaar," he said.